


I Always Keep My Promises

by Almyrah



Series: A Journey Worth Taking [2]
Category: The Orville (TV)
Genre: Gen, Gun Violence, Kidnapping, Like, Minor Character Death, Mutual Pining, Not Beta Read, POV Second Person, She/her pronouns, Torture, and you're too professional to do anything about it, attempt at world building, but you're both not sure if its reciprocated, please be cautious because those things happen to you, the relationship between you and ed is subtle
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-18
Updated: 2019-05-07
Packaged: 2020-01-15 19:51:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18505894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Almyrah/pseuds/Almyrah
Summary: Based on a request from ThinkingofWordstoWrite: "How about The Reader and the Captain somehow get kidnapped and she winds up rescuing him"You and Captain Mercer leave the Orville in search of a Union distress signal emanating from a moon near the border of Krill space, fully aware that it might be a trap.A continuation of Captain's Orders, but it's not necessary to read that to know what's going on in this story. Just know that you're an engineer in this who has recently been promoted to navigatorThis was requested with female pronouns, but they're sparsely used so feel free to replace them with your own





	1. "PMS" for short

**Author's Note:**

> So this was only supposed to be 3k words max and easily done over spring break, but it just kinda kept growing and now I'm at 7k words and still not done. I finally just decided to post it in chapters
> 
> Also, when it comes to the fact of the pronouns and this budding relationship being straight...in my opinion, that doesn't matter. I'm also a firm believer that Ed's not straight so the reader could truly be any gender (I write all genders the same way)
> 
> also its my first time writing any sort of romantic relationship so it might be overly cheesy

Captain Ed Mercer was heading towards the Bridge when he saw you kneeling in front of the simulators, the internal machinery exposed. He smiled fondly, enjoying seeing you in your element. He also knew that you had no authorization to access the simulators as they weren’t currently broken.

He approached you. He wasn’t trying to hide his approach, but you were too absorbed in your work to notice him approaching and Ed quickly realized this. Being a little shit, he crouched next to you and loudly asked, “Hey, (F/N), what are you working on?”

“Crap,” you yelled, startled. You flailed your arms as you fell, nearly removing a few important wires from the simulator, and landed on your ass. He grinned as you looked up and his entire body shook trying to not laugh. You smiled sheepishly as your face heated up. “Good morning, Captain.” During the past few weeks since your promotion, you had grown close to the Bridge crew, including Captain Mercer.

“What are you doing with the simulator?” he asked.

You turned back to the simulator, trying to look busy, but you’re really focused on Ed. “I’m trying to create a portable simulator,” you said honestly.

“Why?” Ed asked, intrigued.

“It’s a gift for Isaac and Dr. Finn,” you explained, “Dr. Finn had told me what Isaac had managed to do in the simulators.” You cleared your throat. “And I thought it would be great for Isaac and Dr. Finn to have dates that were beyond the simulators. It’d also be useful for when Isaac wants to blend in when he observes less developed civilizations.”

“Wait, what did Isaac and Claire do in the simulators?”

You turn to face Ed and you couldn’t look him in the eyes. “You’d have to ask them that.” You cleared your throat and quickly changed the subject. “I was thinking that if I could modify the tech in the simulators so that they were portable, Isaac could keep it on him, and maybe even collaborate with Isaac to make a downloadable version for his systems.”

“That’s amazing! Do you think you can do it?” You nodded, trying to subtly remove the parts that you need without him noticing.

“All senior officers report to the Bridge,” Kelly announced through your comms. While Captain Mercer was distracted, you removed the parts and quickly closed the hatch.

“We better get going,” Ed said, standing up.

You stand as well, dusting off your knees. “Lead the way.” You both walked down the hall towards the Bridge. Behind you, Lieutenant Dann opened the simulator doors to find a large swarm of bees buzzing angrily inside. Neither you nor Captain Mercer noticed.

When you reached the Bridge, you both rushed to your stations, Ed sat in his Captain chair while you took your spot next to Gordon as navigator. “What’s going on?” he asked.

“We received a distress signal of a Krill attacking the Epsilon system,” Talla explained, “We’re the closest ship in the fleet.”

“Right then. Lieutenant (L/N), set a course for the Epsilon system.”

“Aye, Captain.” You input the coordinates and the Orville made its way to the star system. The Orville was almost there when Talla said, “Sir, we just received a second distress signal from a nearby planet 25 thousand kilometers from our current location.”

“Is it on the way?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Gordon, get us as close as we can get without going off course from Epsilon.”

“Aye, sir.”

“Message the shuttle bay and have them prepare a shuttle and have Dr. Finn send a doctor to meet us in case anyone needs medical attention. (F/N) you’re with me.”

“Aye, sir.” You stood up from your chair and made your way to the shuttle bay with Ed. When you arrived at the shuttle bay, you saw shuttle one ready to go, and a man standing next to it suited in the green medical uniform.

The man approaches you and Ed. “Captain.” He was Yeulan, one of the tallest species in the Union.

“Dr. Shex, I’m glad to see that you’ll be joining us.” You were constantly impressed by Captain Mercer and his ability to remember the names of all 300 members of his crew.

Dr. Stewart turned to you and held out his hand. “I’ve seen you around, but I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting you. I’m Dr. Ekits Shex.” You smiled and introduced yourself, then the three of you entered the shuttle, Dr. Shex needing to bend to fit through the shuttle door.

You sat at the copilot seat on the left and Ed sat in the pilot seat to your right with Ekits in the seat behind you. The shuttle bay doors opened, and you and Captain Mercer guided the shuttle out of the Orville and towards the planet that was the source of the distress signal. It wasn’t long after that the shuttle was far enough away from the Orville that it wouldn’t be destroyed when the Quantum Drive created folds in the fabric of space. As soon as the shuttle was safe, the Orville took off towards the Epsilon system.

You pull up the exact location of the distress signal, the source was on a moon in the Zaurso system. “I know where that is,” Dr. Shex said as he looked over your shoulder. Your brain finally connects the dots that Yeula is in a star system near the Zaurso sun. “We tried to colonize that moon decades ago.”

“Is it habitable?” You asked, while also pulling up the database of the Zauros system on your panel.

“Yes. But the planet it orbits isn’t.”

 “Then why couldn’t you colonize there?” Ed asked.

“There’s almost no daylight,” Dr. Shex explained, “It orbits it’s planet in such a way that it’s almost always blocked from Zaurso’s sunlight. I believe it was determined that each hemisphere of the moon only gets three hours of sunlight a day.”

The Captain then said what you were all thinking, “So, it’s the perfect place for the Krill?”

Dr. Shex nodded. “Unfortunately, and it’s not that far from their territory either.”

“You’re not thinking it’s a trap, are you, sir?” you asked.

Ed shrugged. “It’s on a Union frequency, but it’ll be better to be safe than sorry. We’ll orbit around the moon until the location of the signal is in sunlight. Hopefully we can find them and leave before it’s dark.”

“What if we don’t manage to find them within the three hours?” Dr. Shex asked.

“Then we’ll try again.”

The shuttle approached a few minutes later and you managed to achieve a visual on the source of the signal. “Sir, the signal is coming from a point on the moon that appears to be in the middle of the area in sunlight.”

“Excellent,” Captain Mercer said, “let’s head on down.” You and Ed guide the shuttle into the moon’s atmosphere. You naively thought everything would go smoothly until you saw a Krill fighter blip into view before disappearing again.

“Krill!” Dr. Shex screamed as the shuttle was hit by an EMP blast. The control panels went dark and the shuttle started to freefall. You and the Captain tried every possible way to get the shuttle back online while Dr. Shex started praying in Yeulian behind you. The two of you managed to reboot the shuttle and you maneuvered it in a rough landing, landing the shuttle on its left side.

Your seatbelt and Dr. Shex’s seatbelt had held but Ed’s seatbelt had malfunctioned, yanked undone by the force of the landing and he fell from his seat. He caught himself before he had landed on you, but he still obtained a bad cut on his arm from a control panel that had broken in the landing.

“You okay?” Ed asked quietly, his face hovering a few inches above you and his eyes full of concern. The natural sunlight coming through the front screen highlighted his facial features in a way the lights on the Orville never could. You had never realized one person could look so striking. You nodded, overwhelmed and breathless. _Had his eyes always been that brown_?

“I’m fine, thanks for asking,” Dr. Shex announced loudly in response to Ed’s question. Ed chuckled silently. You grinned as well; feeling the warmth of his breath on your lips.

“I’m glad to hear it, Dr. Shex,” he said as he stood up, then he offered his left arm to help you do the same. “I have a pretty bad scratch on my arm by otherwise I’m good.”

“Here, let me have a look at that.” They sit on the sides of the seats that were now at the top.

You looked around the fallen shuttle. Everything ninety degrees from where it should be, making you dizzy. “This is trippy,” you said as you almost hit your head on one of the seats that were originally on the right side of the shuttle.

Dr. Shex finished healing Captain Mercer’s arm and glanced at you before looking out the shuttle’s front screen. “At least we managed to land in sunlight.”

Ed nodded. “Lieutenant, could you run a diagnostic of the shuttle?”

“Yes, sir.” You tapped on the panels and are relieved when they blinked on. “Control Panels are working, if a bit cracked,” you reported. You smiled, as this made your job a lot easier. “The Dysonium tank is damaged and leaking, but if I patch it soon, we should have enough that we can make it back to the Orville without problem. Engines have minimum damage, and…Shit!” Your outburst took your companions by surprise. “Life support is completely shot,” you explained.

“How long will it take to fix it?” Ed asked.

“a few hours, sir, and that’s with constant lighting. However, I’d prefer to not rely on the shuttle’s lights as it might drain the dysonium, and—"

“—And the moon only receives three hours of sunlight,” Ed finished.

You nodded. “I’ll see what I can do with the emergency flashlight in the shuttle, but that won’t be optimal.”

“You get started on that while the Doctor and I start searching for the distress signal.” You awkwardly opened the shuttle door as Dr. Shex grabbed his medical bag and Captain Mercer grabbed the emergency supplies from the back of the shuttle and passed the kit to you. Dr. Shex exited the shuttle, ducking at the waist. Ed turned and looked back at you. “We should be back in two hours or less. If we’re not, well…then just prepare yourself,” he added with a grimace. You couldn’t help but grimace at the thought as well and instinctually rested your hand on the weapon hanging at your hip.

The Captain exited the shuttle in a similar fashion as Dr. Shex. “See you in two hours or less!” you called out to them. Then you got to work.

First, you fixed the engines so that you could fly the shuttle and guide it to an upright position, granting you access to the dysonium leak. Then, you located the leak with your scanners and patched it up with the equipment that was in the emergency kit, a popular, antique repair tool called “Duct Tape.” With both of those tasks completed in half an hour, you started working on the life support systems.

You made excellent progress, in your opinion, and an hour later you had figured that you had overshot the estimated time of completion when it began to get dark. You left the shuttle and looked up at the sun to see it halfway covered by a large dark disk that you ascertained to be the planet.

You glanced around at the local flora and were astonished to see that the plants were individually folding their leaves in. It was breathtaking and your thoughts bounced to the moment you and the Captained had shared right after the shuttle crash. You quickly pushed that thought aside, grabbed the flashlight from the shuttle, and watched as Zauros vanished behind one of its planets.

You returned to working and quickly became frustrated with the flashlight as there was no way to hold it where it would be useful. You decided that the best thing to do at that moment is to take a break and think about it from a distance. As you stepped back, you felt the parts that you had borrowed from the simulator, as well as the meager beginnings of your portable mini simulator and an idea started to form.

You worked on the simulator using the parts and by the time Dr. Shex and the Captain returned, your simulator was functional enough to simulate daylight up to a cubic meter around the device. You started working on life support again as they reentered the shuttle, clearly impressed with your artificial sunlight. “Did you find it?” you asked.

“The signal? Yes,” Dr. Shex answered, “Anyone in distress? No.”

“After we found the signal, we looked for any evidence of life around the area,” Ed explained, “a crashed shuttle, an old fire pit, some sort of shelter…Nada. Nothing within five kilometers of the distress signal. I’m certain this moon has yet to evolve any type of land fauna.”

“So, we’re absolutely certain that we’ve fallen for a Krill trap?”

“Yes,” Ed and Dr. Shex said at the same time.

“Oh goodie.”

“But the good news is,” Dr. Shex continued, “We caught some fish!” He held up three decently sized fish by their tails.

“Speaking of which, how’s life support coming along?” Ed asked.

“Better than I expected,” you answered. “I was actually making decent progress while the sun was up, and I created a little device that simulates sunlight so I can continue working without needlessly using the shuttle’s power.”

“Fantastic. How much longer do you think it’s going to take?”

“I’d say two to three hours. I’ll keep working while you prepare the fish.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

“Actually, if you don’t mind me asking, Captain, if this is a Krill trap, why haven’t they come after us yet?” you asked, “I mean, the sun has been hidden for almost an hour now and there’s been zero sign of Krill activity since we crashed on this moon.”

“Maybe they’re trying to sneak up on us,” Dr. Shex suggested, “You know, they land their shuttle where it’s hidden from us and then plan to surprise us in the middle of the night. Or maybe they’re having trouble finding us,” he added. You didn’t express your fear, but internally you were pissing yourself.

Ed seemed to be having similar thoughts as you. He silently stared at the Yeulan. “You’ll take first watch, Doctor,” Ed said and Dr. Shex groaned.

* * *

 

You took your next break when the fish was ready, the three of you sat around the fire and ate in relative silence. You focused mostly on the stars in the sky, noting how different the stars looked while static and not flying past them at light speed. Another blatant difference from your star charts was that there was a large black abyss where the planet blocked the moon’s view of Zauros.

Occasionally you had found yourself glancing over at Ed, noticing how when the firelight would hit his face just right that it made the Captain look divine before you quickly focused back on your fish. Once, when you looked over at the Captain, you met his eye. You immediately diverted your eyes back to the stars, your blush hidden by the dim light. You thought it was just your imagination, however, when you thought that he was looking at you in the same way.

You finished your fish, complimented Dr. Shex, and returned to work on the shuttle for another hour before Ed had entered the shuttle. “You should get some sleep, (F/N).”

“No thank you, sir, I can finish the repairs in one more hour,” you said, “we need to get off of this moon as soon as possible.”

“Lieutenant (L/N), even if we do manage to get the shuttle off the ground, if there’s a Krill ship in nearby space, we don’t really have a chance to escape without the Orville.”

“So, our options are to wait on the ground for the Orville and maybe be captured by the Krill, or we leave the moon to try and catchup to the Orville and definitely be captured by the Krill.” Ed nodded. “That doesn’t mean I can’t finish repairs before I go to sleep.”

“No, it means that you’ll have a chance to work on them after a solid night’s rest.” Ed reached for the portable simulator that was simulating sunlight on the control panels. “This is pretty awesome. Did you make this?” You nodded as he examined it. “So, this is what you did with the simulator parts.”

You blanked. “I don’t know what—”

“Did you think I couldn’t hear you rip out a part of the simulator core?” You looked down at your shoes. “I’m fine with it but you’ll have to write the report on why we need new simulator parts.”

You finally looked up and met his eyes. “Sounds good, sir,” you said while smiling sheepishly.

Ed handed the simulator back. “What are you thinking of calling it?”

“I was thinking ‘Portable Miniature Simulator,’” you answered. You bit your tongue as you realized how bad of a name it was. “’PMS’ for short,” you joked.

Ed was also trying to not laugh. “No, don’t call it that,” he managed to say with a straight face. However, both of you soon broke into a fit of laughter.

“Yeah,” you said once you calmed down, “I’ll have to think of a better name.”

Ed chuckled and nodded. “Get some sleep, Lieutenant.”

“Aye, sir,” you relented. You turned off the portable simulator and sat down in Dr. Shex’s seat, as Ed laid down on his back across the two pilot seats. You would’ve thought that that setup would’ve been uncomfortable, but he started snoring within several minutes of laying down.

You were jealous. You had trouble finding a comfortable position and the weight of the thought that the three of you were basically Krill prisoners if the Orville didn’t return soon didn’t help. After several minutes, you had given up on trying to sleep and started tinkering with the simulator seeing if it could cloak itself.

The simulator actually could after an hour of tinkering, and you were so proud that you left the shuttle to show Dr. Shex. You found him sitting on the opened shuttle door, his weapon in his hand which was relaxed at his side.

“Doctor check this out,” you whispered, not wanting to break the silence that blanketed the moon. You sat down on his left and took out the uncloaked simulator.

“Is that how you were generating light in the shuttle?” he asked.

You nodded and input the proper controls for the simulator to cloak itself. “It can simulate light so that its invisible to the naked eye. Isn’t that amazing?” You looked up so that you could see his reaction.

You were not disappointed. His eyes were full of awe and he hesitantly reached to touch the simulator, ensuring that it was still in your hand. “Yes, that is quite ex—”

Dr. Shex disintegrated in front of your eyes,

You jumped backwards and your Union Point training kicked in and you jumped up holding your weapon threateningly in one hand and clutching the still-cloaked simulator in your other. “Captain!” you shouted, hoping that it would be enough to wake him. You spotted two Krill approaching the shuttle on the right. You shot at one of them, but your aim is off in the darkness and you missed. The Krill retaliated by shooting back at you and it singed your uniform.

Then, behind you, you heard a voice with a distinct Krill accent talking behind you, “Drop your weapon.”

You don’t drop it, but instead slowly turn around to find three more Krill soldiers with their weapons pointed at you, along with who knows how many Krill hiding just out of site as backup.

You were outnumbered.

You made a show of presenting your weapon and lowering it to the ground before dropping it. You held up both of your hands, palms opened, to show that you had no other weapon on you. The simulator was grasped between your middle and index finger. You tried to hold so that it wasn’t noticeable that there was a cloaked object in your hand, like the way that people held cigarettes and cigars some four hundred years ago.

A Krill searched you from behind and removed your comscanner as well as picked up your weapon.

“Where’s your Captain?” one of the Krill, you assumed he was the leader of the group, asked. You just pursed your lips and glared at him. He glared back and gestured towards the shuttle. Two of the Krill entered the shuttle.

For a moment, it was silent.

Then you heard two distinct shots of a Union weapon being fired. You couldn’t help but feel proud that your Captain just single-handedly took down two Krill soldiers. You smirked at the Krill.

They were quick to retaliate, and you felt two Krill guns pressed against your back. “Stand down, Captain Mercer, or we’ll kill your engineer!”

You blinked. How in the hell did they know that it was Ed in the shuttle?

There was another moment of silence before Ed walked out with his hands up. “Drop your weapon!” the lead Krill commanded. Ed slowly removed his weapon from his side and dropped it on the ground. The same Krill that searched you searched him and took his weapon and comscanner.

“They’re just stunned,” Ed explained, “they should wake up in a few hours.” The Krill that searched Ed pushed him off the shuttle door and entered the shuttle. The door closed behind him.

The leader of the group started walking and the other Krill gestured for you and Ed to follow by jabbing your back with his gun. They led you and Ed to a Krill fighter that was just out of sight of where your shuttle had crash-landed, giving you no choice but to get on the fighter. The fighter doors closed, and you now felt truly trapped, the simulator still in your possession.


	2. What's one more?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the chapter with the torture but you can still understand the chapter if you skip the torture. I marked it with an X in case

You and Captain Mercer were forced out of the fighter once it had finally landed in the Krill shuttle bay where there were several more Krill, their weapons pointing at you and Ed. Two of the Krill stepped forward, one was more decorated than all the Krill and the other was wearing an ornate red robe. They looked relaxed and in charge. You inferred that one of them was probably the Captain.

You and Ed were shoved closer to the two Krill and you managed to catch yourself before falling. You squeezed the simulator as you kept your head high despite the imminent threat of being shot and dying on a Krill ship.

“Captain Mercer, I am Captain Tarut. Welcome aboard the Erqin.”

Ed, who was already standing in front of you, took a step to his right to get between you and Captain Tarut. “If this is how you welcome your prisoners, I’m curious how you welcome your guests.”

Captain Tarut chuckled. He looked like he was going to respond when one of the Krill soldiers stepped forward. “Sir, the soldier flying the Union shuttle is reporting low temperatures and oxygen levels.”

“Oh, did no one tell you that life support was shot?” you asked quietly, smirking at the small win. You realized you shouldn’t have said anything when Captain Tarut focused on you.

“Can I assume that you are the one to blame for that?”

You shrugged as nonchalantly as possible and faked a confidence that you certainly didn’t feel at that moment. “It needed repairs after the crash. If you had waited a few more hours I would’ve had it fixed for ya.”

The Krill Captain stared at you before he broke out into laughter. While you were relieved that the Krill had a sense of humor and that he found you and Captain Mercer amusing, the unexpected laughter almost made you shit yourself. The Krill in the robes, however, still looked like he wanted to kill you. “Our orders were only to capture the Captain, but I am so glad we picked you up as well. What should I call you?”

“Lieutenant (L/N).”

“Well then, Captain, Lieutenant, we must leave the shuttle bay so that we can land your Union shuttle.” Captain Tarut walked towards the exit, followed by the guy in the robes, the High Priest. Ed had explained that fact to you as you were shoved to follow the two Krill. After that you were told to be silent. obeyed

You and Ed complied and remained dutifully silent while Captain Tarut and the High Priest were in the lead talking too fast for your universal translator to translate. You spent the time memorizing the route from the shuttle bay to wherever the destination was, hoping that you’d have a chance to escape and steal a fighter in the future and taking in the similarities and differences between Union and Krill ships.

Eventually, you reached your destination of what assume to be the Erqin’s holding cells. Ed is shoved into one of the cells and you started to follow before you’re jerked back by one of the soldiers. The energy field turned on and Ed was trapped in the cell.

“What’s going on? What is this?” Ed shouted at the Krill. You knew it was best to not try anything since you were outnumbered again, so you just stood there and tried your best to inconspicuously hide the simulator that you still had grasped in your hand.

“I need your command codes, Captain.” One of the soldiers held up a stun baton at your neck. “I am sure you remember how this goes.”

“Are you serious? I already gave them to you,” Ed said, his voice strained.

“Unfortunately, they were lost after the Chak’tal attack.” He nodded at one of the soldiers.

X

Suddenly, you felt like you were hit by a baseball bat in the torso, which was then followed by your entire body feeling the tingle of electricity. When the pain receded, your throat was sore from screaming and you looked at Ed. He seemed to be a mixture of worried, angry, and borderline panicking. You squeezed the simulator to make sure you didn’t drop it.

“As much as I like your engineer, Captain, the will of Avis comes first.”

“How do I know that she’s not a Krill spy, like-like before?” This time when you looked at Captain Mercer, hurt shone in your eyes.

“You have no way of knowing. You are just going to have to trust us.” You looked up at Captain Tarut and were genuinely surprised to find regret in his eyes. The High Priest was downright gleeful. “Level six.”

This time you were prepared for it, but that didn’t help. The pain was five times worse and you tried and failed to not to scream again. You were panting now but were still relieved to find the cloaked simulator still in your hand.

X

The priest spoke up for the first time. “I have to say, Captain Mercer, that I do not think your Lieutenant can take another shock.”

“Fuck! I’ll tell you the codes, just stop okay. Stop hurting her. Please,” Ed begged.

“No,” you whispered.

He ignored you and started reciting his code. “Alpha Charlie twenty-seven Gamma forty-two Delta six.”

“Now was that so difficult, Captain?” Captain Tarut asked. The Krill that had been tasering you now practically dragged you into the same cell as Captain Mercer. The energy field disappeared long enough for you to get inside. Once inside, Ed guided you to sit down on the bench, a gesture you appreciated as you didn’t trust your legs could support you. You both sat and he placed a comforting hand on your shoulder.

When you glanced back up at the Krill, all of them were leaving except for Captain Tarut and a guard. “Captain Mercer, you will be taken to Krill to be tried for your crimes against Avis.” Ed glared at the Krill Captain. “Lieutenant (L/N), you will be transported to a Krill prison camp.” You honestly didn’t expect any other outcomes other than death and prison camp. “Although,” he mused, “I may be able to convince my superiors so that I can keep you on the Erqin.”

You froze as if you were doused in ice water. You’d take a Krill prison camp over staying on a Krill destroyer as some sort of entertainment. Hell, even torture would be a better option. You waited until the Tarut was gone before you started to panic. “Captain, I cannot just wait around in this cell to become a Krill _pet_ ,” you told him.

“Yeah, I’m with ya,” he said, “but last time it took a full-blown attack of the destroyer that allowed me to escape. I don’t think that’ll be happening again.”

You fell into comfortable silence, both of you were deep in thought. You were the first to break it. “I can’t believe you gave up your command codes just to save my life.”

“You’re worth it.”

“Am I, though?”

Ed fully turned to look you in the eyes, the intense emotion in them had made it impossible for you to look away. “No, don’t say that shit,” Ed said firmly, “I’m the Captain. It is my job to protect every member of my crew and that includes you. You are _my_ navigator.” The way he said “my navigator” made your stomach flip. “By the way, you aren’t actually Krill or part Krill, are you? Not that it would have changed anything,”

You chuckled. “Not to my knowledge, sir.” You squeezed the simulator to make sure it was still there, when a plan started to form. You were’t Krill, but what if you were? “Captain, I have a plan,” you whispered.

“Lay it on me.” You explained your plan to Ed, quietly enough that the Krill guard couldn’t hear it. “So, we just have to wait for the next guard to come and takeover during the next shift.” You nodded. “Until then, you should really get some sleep.”

“What? The reason why I couldn’t sleep before was the imminent threat of a Krill attack, why do you think I could get any sleep on a Krill destroyer?” Thinking back to the time spent on that moon reminded you of Dr. Shex. You told yourself that you had to stay focused, and that you could mourn later.

“I’ll make sure nothing happens and I’ll wake you when the other guard comes.”

“Okay, Captain, I trust you.” It wasn’t a lie.

Since the only bench in the cell was the one that you and Ed were both sitting on, you leaned on the Captain. His body was warm and was a pleasant contrast to the cold bench. You placed the cloaked simulator under the bench. The position was extremely uncomfortable, but your fatigue won and soon you were fast asleep on Captain Mercer.

* * *

 

Ed looked fondly at your unconscious self, noting how peaceful you looked as you slept. You sighed and he smiled a little. The smile immediately disappeared when Captain Tarut appeared outside of your cell.

“I thought that you’d like to know that your codes allowed access to your Union’s records, but I am sure you expected that.” He glanced down and your sleeping form. “The Lieutenant must mean something to you for you to choose her life over the codes.”

“She does.”

The Krill Captain’s expression shifted from serious to self-satisfied. “I just got word from my superiors, Captain Mercer, and you will be glad to hear that they have decided that Lieutenant (L/N) can stay on the Erqin.”

Ed snarled. You shifted and Ed stood up while also lowering you until you were laying completely on the bench. “(F/N) would rather die than be stuck on your ship.”

“You are both soulless, an inferior species. She does not get a choice, Captain.”

Ed stormed towards Captain Tarut until the only thing separating the two captains was the energy barrier. “You better pray to Avis that I don’t get out,” he growled, “because if I do, I promise that I will kill you.”

“You would risk certain death for one lieutenant?”

“I have killed hundreds of Krill,” Ed said without hesitation, “What’s one more?”

 “Then it is a good thing that you are never getting out, Captain,” Tarut growled and left the holding cells rather quickly, almost rushed. Ed took pride in that.

* * *

 

An hour later, the replacement guard entered, and Ed shook you awake. “They’re here, you ready?”

You nodded as you yawned. You blindly reached for the cloaked simulator until you felt it and felt around the simulator to find the button to uncloak it. Once you found it and it was once again visible, you started to feel unsure. Your entire plan was based on whether the simulator could simulate an environment around two full grown adults when it had never been tested to do just that.

You pushed down the uncertainty and turned your back to the Krill. You adjusted the settings and was relieved when you couldn’t see yourself. “Captain, quick, stick out your hand.” Ed stuck out his left hand and you grabbed it. He immediately vanished from sight.

So far, so good.

“Hey, where did they go?” the new Krill guard asked.

The other guard looked straight through your seemingly invisible bodies and started to panic. “They were right there!” He turned off the barrier and you were thrilled that the plan was working.

They walked in looking for you and the Captain. Ed snuck behind the new guard who was behind the original. With a swift hit to the head, the guard passed out. Ed grabbed his gun and shot the original guard before he knew what was happening.

“Yes!” you celebrated, and Ed became visible as you grabbed the gun from the guard Ed had shot. Then you used the simulator to scan to unconscious Krill.

Now came the next part of the plan. You had set the simulator so that it would simulate you and Captain Mercer as the Krill guards. You left the holding cell and Ed managed to close the barrier on the guards, locking them in.

You activated the simulator and you appeared as a male Krill. “How do I look, sir?” Your voice, unfortunately, remained human.

“Hideous,” he responded with a smile. You offered him the hand that wasn’t holding the simulator. He took it and took the image of the other male Krill. You realized that your holding hands with your captain and you quickly push that thought aside. At this moment, you also realized how many thoughts you’ve pushed away for later during this adventure. “Let’s go.”

Both of you made your way through the destroyer’s halls, following the path that they were led down when they had first arrived. Fortunately, you and Ed failed to attract any attention from the Krill crew members. You were starting to feel giddy when you saw Captain Tarut heading your way.

“Ah shit,” Ed whispered. You agreed with him completely.

“Korkra, Akmiri?”

“Captain,” you both acknowledged. You had to deepen your voices to match the guards voice since the simulator was never meant to simulate voices.

“Why aren’t either of you guarding the prisoners?” He turned to you and you swore you were almost pissing yourself. “It is currently your shift, Korkra, is it not?”

“It is, but I was not feeling well and two of the new recruits offered to cover for me,” you lied, “Akmiri offered to assist me back to my quarters after his shift.”

“That is excellent. It is quite evident in your voice that you are not feeling well.” You nodded, not trusting your voice anymore. “I am glad you are being an excellent model for the other recruits, Akmiri. What were their names? I will compliment them next time I stop by to talk to the prisoners.”

Captain Mercer said the first names that he had thought of. “Chris and Devon.”

“You lekitis Idiots! Did you not know that those were the names used when Captain Mercer and his crewmember snuck onto the Yakar?” You slowly turned your head to glare at your captain. Ed just stared straight ahead, eyes wide, trying to hide his panic. “Come! If we hurry, we can catch the humans before they leave the ship. You two stay here and make sure that they do not come this way,” Captain Tarut said as he ran in the direction that you and Ed came from. You and Ed, who were debatably not lekitis idiots, waited until Captain Tarut was out of sight before the two of you continued towards the destroyer’s shuttle bay at a considerably faster pace.

To your relief, none of the Krill gave you and Captain Mercer a second glance when you arrived at the shuttle bay. You were relieved to see a Krill shuttle that was set for flight along with the stolen Union shuttle situated next to it. “What are you thinking? Krill shuttle or Union shuttle?”

“I’m not sure I would know how to fly a Krill shuttle and I doubt the Krill managed to fix life support on our shuttle,” you responded, “Although, I might be able to fix the life support mid-flight once we’re safely away from the Krill.

“Union shuttle it is then.” You looked over at Ed and he smiled softly. “I trust you,” he said, echoing your earlier words. You swelled with confidence and you both made your way towards the shuttle.

You had almost made it on the shuttle when a blast from a Krill rifle just barely missed your left shoulder. You turned to find half of the Krill personnel heading in your direction, led by a furious Captain Tarut. “I think they found the real Akmiri and Korkra!” You shouted, startled. You grabbed Korkra’s gun hanging at your waist and started firing, letting go of Ed’s hand as you did, and his disguise fell.

“You remembered their names?” Ed asked, impressed, as he shot at the Krill as well. “Get the shuttle ready!” he shouted over the blasts of the weapons, “I’ll hold them off.”

“You can shoot the engineer,” you heard Tarut command, “but we need the Captain alive!”

You quickly took your position in the copilot’s seat and started up the shuttle, placing the simulator down and dropping your disguise as well. It lifted itself a few feet off the ground and to your dismay you realized that the bay doors were shut. Both of you had planned for being able to get the doors open before you had been compromised. “The doors are shut!” you informed Ed.

“I can see the controls!” he shouted back, “Try and keep the shuttle steady.”

You followed the order. “Aye, Captain.” You heard Captain Mercer blast a single shot, then a few seconds later you heard an explosion coming from somewhere in the shuttle bay and the doors started opening. “Fantastic shot,” you said as Ed took his seat next to you.

“Thanks, lets get out of here.” You quickly closed the door to the shuttle, but before its completely closed a shot from a rifle enters the shuttle, skins your arm and hits the control panel.

“Ah, Fuck!”

“You okay?” Ed asked.

“It smarts, but it also took out navigation and I’m a bit rusty on Krill space star charts.”

“Fan-fucking-tastic.”

“Hey! I said I was rusty, not that I was clueless.” You were grinning, elated to be finally showing off your aptitude for star charts. Your parents had taught you how to read 2D Earth’s star charts since you were a child so that you would never be lost, a skill which transferred easily into 3D and was your hidden talent.

You guided the shuttle out of the Krill destroyer and pushed the shuttle as fast as it could go to get away from it. You felt unnerved when you could only recognize a couple of the stars around you, but you were certain that the dim light in front of you was a binary star system, Var and Vis, that heated the solar system where Dr. Shex’s home planet, Yeula resided.

“Captain, you see the star that we’re currently heading for?” He nodded. “That’s the Varvis binary system, edge of Union space.” A proximately alert went off and you quickly maneuvered the shuttle to dodge the blast that just came from the Erqin, then set the shuttle back on course. “I’ll work on the oxygen part of life support first.”

Working on the life support system was difficult as you were being jerked around every time Ed dodged an attack from the Krill, but your adrenaline and the threat of a slow death pushed you to work harder and faster. You were proud that you finished fast enough that you had barely felt the effects of a lack of oxygen, only yawning twice before it was fixed and you and inhaled a fresh breath of oxygen.

“Fixed air recycling,” you informed the captain, “now I’m gonna start on temperature control.”

“Save it for later! I’m pretty sure we’re in range of their tractor beam and our dysonium tank is low.” You quickly sat back in your seat, managing to buckle yourself in just as a blast from the Erqin made a direct hit. You and Ed lurched with the shuttle.

“The dysonium tank is shot,” you said, reading the message on the control panel. The Krill shot a second blast at the shuttle and you and Ed successfully dodged it, a maneuver that used up the last of the dysonium, leaving you and Ed floating in space.

“God damnit!” Ed exclaimed. You smacked the control panel on the off chance that it would help the situation. It didn’t.

After a few moments of frustrated silence in the shuttle, the Erqin hailed the shuttle. “Ignore it,” Ed said.

“Sir?”

“We’re about to die, we can be petty.” You couldn’t argue with that.

The Erqin approached the shuttle. You were sure that they were going to latch on to it with their tractor beam. Then you saw the most beautiful sight; the USS Orville was approaching the shuttle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Currently at 8k and still going!
> 
> Come chat with me on tumblr: lunacornfan2k19


	3. Your Captain

You had never realized how elegant and beautiful she was. Ed hailed the Orville.

“Kelly, your timing couldn’t be more perfect,” Ed said. He sagged in relief.

You almost cried when you heard Commander Grayson’s voice. “Ed, we found Dr. Shex’s body. Is Lieutenant (L/N) ...?”

“(F/N) is here with me. We’re okay.”

There was the faint sound of cheering in the background. “We’ll pull you in.” As Kelly said that, the shuttle was encased in the glow of the Orville’s tractor beam. “The Krill destroyer has been hailing us since we’ve arrived, but I wanted to ensure you two were okay before we opened communications.”

“Keep them waiting until I get up there,” Ed said, “I want to talk to Captain Tarut myself.” He looked furious. You had never seen Captain Mercer like this, and you were honestly a little terrified. The shuttle landed smoothly in the Orville’s shuttle bay. You and Ed hurried made your way to the bridge, promising Dr. Finn that you would both make your ways to sick bay for an examination once the Krill were dealt with.

_They haven’t shot at us yet, why haven’t they shot at us yet?_ You asked yourself as you reached the bridge. Ed sat in his captain’s chair and the engineer that took over the navigator position while you were gone left, and you took over.

“Captain, the Krill destroyer is hailing us,” Talla said.

“Put them on screen,” Ed said. Captain Tarut’s face appeared and you had to repress a shudder. You instinctively glanced back at Captain Mercer who was radiating hatred. You focused on the panel in front of you.

“Captain Mercer,” Captain Tarut said, he sounded smug which was reasonable as his destroyer was significantly larger than the Orville. It was also why you didn’t understand why he hadn’t tried to shoot the Orville into the next star system.

“Captain Tarut,” Captain Mercer replied with barely hidden disgust.

“How is your engineer?” You flinched and swore that you could suddenly feel everyone’s eyes on you.

“What do you want?”

“I’m here to offer you a deal,” he said, “Surrender yourself to the Krill and we’ll allow your ship and your crew to return to Union space unharmed.” You and the rest of the bridge fell silent.

If it really came down to it, the Orville could never survive a battle with a Krill destroyer, and they would be completely justified in attacking since the Orville was in Krill space.

“I can see you need some time to think about it,” Captain Tarut said, smug, when Ed didn’t respond, “Let me know when you’ve made your decision.” He hung up and you had never wanted to punch somebody more in your life.

“Ed, you can’t turn yourself over to him,” Kelly said, breaking the silence. The rest of the bridge joined in.

“Haven’t we learned by now that you can’t trust the Krill?” Gordon asked.

“Who says that once you’re back on their ship they won’t blow us up,” John said

“I do not believe this deal will be ultimately beneficial for the Union,” Isaac chimed in.

“Isn’t there a human expression, ‘A captain goes down with his ship,’” Bortus said.

You and Talla had watched everyone’s reactions silently. Ed turned to you. “(F/N), you spent as much time with him as I have, what do you think?”

You exhaled, knowing that you couldn’t lie, not to your Captain. “As much as it pains me to say it, sir, I do not believe Captain Tarut has ever lied to us once.”

You were prepared for the glares from the other crew members, and you were prepared for Captain Mercer’s thoughtful nod. However, you weren’t prepared for his decision.

“I’m going to accept his deal.”

The bridge erupted into multiple protests, all which went ignored by Ed. “Talla, hail the Erqin.”

“Captain—”

“Hail them, Lieutenant.”

“No, Captain, there are two inbound ships, one of which is hailing us.”

“Are they Krill?”

“No sir, Union.” Talla paused as she listened to the transmission. “It’s the USS Armstrong.”

“Put them on screen.” A Union captain with long red hair appeared. “Captain Jacobs, I’m glad to see you. What are you doing out in Krill space?”

“We’re hare for support,” she explained, “we watched your ship enter Krill space and we and the USS Kopernik followed to provide backup.”

“Why would you do that?” Ed asked.

“Commander Grayson was the reason that Captain Murali and I met. I owed her one for introducing me to my wife.”

“Captain,” Talla interrupted, “the Krill ship is hailing us.”

“They’re probably feeling nervous now that they are outnumbered,” Kelly said.

“The Kopernik is hailing us, asking what our plan of attack is,” said Captain Jacobs.

“Captain,” you said, “I noticed while we were inside of the Erqin that the all of the dysonium pumps ran in the same direction; underneath their shuttle bay. If two of the ships can distract the Krill, then a third ship will be free to target the engines through the shuttle bay—”

“—which is vulnerable because we damaged their shuttle bay doors,” Ed finished.

“Yes, sir.”

“Did you catch that, Sarah?” Commander Grayson asked.

“Yep, I’ll relay the plan to Afrah. You can count on us to be annoying shits,” Captain Jacobs said, “Jacobs out.” Her face vanished from the screen, granting the Bridge full view of the Armstrong and Kopernik fly around the Erqin like gnats from Earth.

“Check that out,” Gordon said to no one in particular, “they’re Hugging the Donkey!”

“Lieutenant Malloy, take us down to the shuttle bay entrance,” Ed said.

“Aye, sir.” He flew the Orville close to the gaping entrance, keeping the Orville aligned with the shuttle bay as the Erqin moved chasing down the other two ships.

“Fire.”

Two blasts hit the shields and a third blast broke through, assisted by the other ships. The third landed directly in the shuttle bay. The fourth blast created a hole in the floor, revealing the Erqin’s engine.

“Keep aiming at their shuttle bay. Lieutenant Keyali, hail the Krill destroyer.”

“Aye, sir.”

The Bridge of the Erqin appeared and it was drastically different. The area was wrecked and on fire from being attacked by the Kopernik and Armstrong. Captain Tarut, who had been composed every time that you had seen him, was disheveled and was currently picking himself up from the recent blasts.

“Captain Taurt,” Ed said.

“Hello, Captain Mercer,” he replied. Tarut’s breaths were short and shallow. “Can I assume that you’re going to ask for the surrender of myself and my ship?”

You turned back to find Ed smiling, feigning nonchalance. However, he couldn’t hide the malice in his eyes, and you felt a shiver go down your spine. “Actually,” the Captain said, “I just thought that you’d like to know something about me, something that all of my friends can attest to.”

Captain Tarut rolled his eyes. “And what is that fact, Captain Mercer?”

“It’s that I _always_ keep my promises.”

“Fire.”

The blast hit the main engine of the Erqin, causing a chain of explosions to course through the destroyer and destroying it. The Bridge cheered as the Krill were finally defeated and Ed returned to his normal self. You joined in, relieved that the time you had spent on that ship was finally in the past.

The celebration was interrupted by Talla. “Sir, the USS Kopernik is hailing us.”

“Put them on.” Captain Murali appeared on the screen. “Thank you, Captain, we couldn’t have done it without your help.”

“Yeah, no kidding. I don’t think that we could’ve won this with only two ships.” Captain Murali turned towards Kelly. “I believe we are now even.”

“Honestly, I think _I_ will owe you and Sarah a favor after this.”

“Yeah, that seems right,” Captain Murali said, nodding, “I hope the three of us will be able to meet up again under better circumstances.”

“I hope so, too.”

“Until next time, Captain Mercer.”

“Until then.” The feed from the Kopernik cut out and the wreckage of the Erqin was visible on screen.

Ed sighed before ordering you and Gordon to get the Orville out of Krill space. “Commander Grayson, you have the bridge. Lieutenant (L/N) and I need to report down to sick bay.”

* * *

 

 The memorial service for Dr. Ekits Shex was the next day.

You weren’t certain if you should go since you had convinced yourself that Dr. Shex would still be alive if you hadn’t gone out at and sat with him that night, but Dr. Finn quickly squashed that delusion and encouraged you to attend to assist with healing from the trauma. You attended and stood in the back.

Both the Captain and Dr. Finn and several of Dr. Shex’s coworkers gave beautiful speeches about him that almost had you crying. However, you did find the ceremony helpful in dealing with his loss and understanding that there was nothing you could have done.

You went back to your quarters after the ceremony. You had asked for the next two days off. Kelly had almost given you the entire week, but you had convinced her that you only needed half of that time with Dr. Finn’s assistance. You spent your free time trying to keep yourself busy, so you worked on putting the finishing touches on the portable simulator for Isaac.

Once it was done, you walked to Claire’s quarters and rang the chime. You were surprised and pleased to see that Isaac was the one who answered it. “Isaac, good. I was gonna ask Dr. Finn where you were.”

“Is there a problem, Lieutenant?”

“Not at all, I just wanted to give you this.” You held out the PortoSim. Isaac gingerly takes it. “It’s a portable miniature simulator,” you explained, “It can simulate whatever you want to a radius that’s up to two meters. I call it the PortoSim for short. I figured you could input the same code that made you look human in the simulators for use when you want to be inconspicuous exploring new planets with humanoid native life…or so that you and the Doctor don’t have to reserve the simulator when you want to have some fun.

Isaac tilted his head. “Fun?”

“Sex, Isaac,” you blurted out, “I meant for sex. Why don’t you try it out?”

He began to input his code when Dr. Finn joined you two. “Hey, (F/N), is everything okay?”

You nodded. “Just came to give Isaac a gift.”

“The simulator? Isn’t that how you managed to escape the Krill.”

“Well, yeah, it had it’s uses, but I originally was creating it for you and Isaac.”

Isaac finished adding his code to the ProtoSim and instead of a Kaylon standing in the doorway it was a lanky human with brown hair. Claire stared at him in astonishment.

“Damn, Isaac,” you said, “I had never realized that you were hot.”

“Thank you, Lieutenant.”

“If you want, you and I could figure out how to download the ProtoSim into your system so you wouldn’t have to carry it around.”

“That will not be necessary.”

“Thank you so much, (F/N).”

“Ah, don’t mention it. You two kids have fun now.” You left and made your way back to your quarters.

* * *

 

You spent the rest of the day going over every emotion you had shoved aside while your life was in danger, mainly the ones where the Captain was protective of you, he had trusted you, he gave up his command codes for you, the way you couldn’t stop staring at him when you were eating the fish, and how beautiful he looked in natural light.

Okay, so you had a crush on your Captain. The highest-ranking officer on the Orville. A man you work closely with every day.

God, you were screwed.

You didn’t expect your door to chime and you definitely didn’t expect to see Captain Mercer out of uniform standing on the other side when you opened it. “Hello, Captain.” _Were his eyes always such a warm brown?_

“Hey, (F/N). I was wondering if you maybe wanted to maybe get a drink with me maybe?”

Yes! “Uh, yeah sure, Captain.”

“Honestly,” he said, “after all we’ve been through, you can drop the rank and call me Ed when we’re off-duty.”

He smiled and you couldn’t help but smile back. “Okay…Ed.” His smile grew and you were temporarily speechless.

“So, shall we head down to the Mess Hall?”

You shook yourself out of your reverie. “Yes, of course.”

He stepped to the side so that you could exit your quarters. “Lead the way.” Together the two of you headed down to the Mess Hall about to spend an entire evening enjoying each other’s company.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I say that the two of you were too professional to act on your feelings? yeah that was a lie.
> 
> I have so many ideas on how this story could go. Question: would y'all want a reader-insert written for any of the episodes? because there could be so much angst for the reader in the second half of season 2 now that they're dating Ed just say the word
> 
> Come chill with me on tumblr: lunacornfan2k19

**Author's Note:**

> My tumblr is lunacornfan2k19 if you have requests or just want to talk!


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